Sherdog's Guide to 'The Ultimate Fighter 10'
Scott Holmes Nov 5, 2009
If you’ve been following “The
Ultimate Fighter” this season you’ve most certainly been asking
yourself two things. Number one: can Team Rashad run the table and
go 8-0 against Team Rampage? And number two: what exactly is
Kimbo
Slice’s beard made of? One of those answers is revealed in the
latest episode.
We begin with Scott Junk’s teammates, who are still reeling over his loss to Matt Mitrione during last week’s episode. The “rat” nobody wanted just tight-roped his way past their pit bull.
“He’s the toughest person I’ve ever fought in my life,” says
Mitrione, still rattled from being wailed on. Both Mitrione’s team
and coach Quinton
"Rampage" Jackson are left speculating what happened to the
Junk they know.
After Junk’s loss last week, Rampage had torn the gym’s door off its hinges and smashed it to bits while the fighters, coaches, the Nevada commission, its judges, the uniformed police, ring girls, EMT and UFC president Dana White all watched. They seem to be equal parts cautious and amused by the display.
Rampage doesn’t have time to pout over Junk with only one fight remaining between the two teams. Former NFLer Marcus Jones is the only hope Jackson has at getting a fighter into the finale.
“We banking on that boy,” says Rampage, calling Jones his last remaining soldier.
Rampage might need “Big Baby,” Jones’ affectionate nickname, but Big Baby needs Justin Wren. A bizarre-looking spider has Jones squealing in horror while Wren tends to its eradication. Jones describes the find as a “spider, scorpion leviathan.” It’s always amusing to see a 6-foot-6, 260-pound behemoth crippled in fear by an insect.
Unfortunately, Jones’ opponent is really dealing with true fear. Mike Wessel opens up about his wife at home and her battle with cancer. Wessel talks about having to sacrifice so much time for the TUF opportunity, but says he makes sure his wife gets a card every day to lift her spirits.
“This is the price you have to pay if you want to be great,” says Wessel.
Coach Rashad Evans and his assisting staff have a plan for Wessel to be great in his fight with Jones. They want him to throw bombs and close the distance on Big Baby. With Jones’ size, they’d rather him fight him in a phone booth than have the phone booth lying on top of their guy Wessel.
“I wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning just to watch old fights,” Jones says of his blooming love for MMA. During his NFL years, Jones says he was never a “student of the game,” but that’s changed now that he’s changed sports.
Back at the TUF training lodge, Rampage is back at it with Darrill Schoonover and his boy shelf.
“If I didn’t like ‘Titties’ (Schoonover), then I would have called him bitch tits,” reasons Jackson, making a weak attempt at a truce. After shaking hands, Rampage grabs a handful of the goods, setting Schoonover off. The pair go nose-to-nose once again.
Mike Wessel.
Fight day arrives and both Wessel and Jones have
the same mindset. Neither man showed up to the TUF house just
looking for the life experience and neither wants to have spent so
much time away from their loved ones all for naught.
Jones’s massive fist rips through one pair of gloves while he’s getting prepped for battle. In the other locker room, Wessel receives advice for dealing with the beast just before entering the cage.
It urns out that it takes more than just advice to slay beasts. Jones doesn’t need to use any of his eight-inch reach advantage after all. Wessel comes straight forward swinging from the hip. After a wild exchange, Wessel tries to trip Jones, but ends up on bottom. Wessel quickly slips out and gets top position. But before he can mount any sort of offense, Jones snags Wessel’s arm and slaps on an armbar torqued by the most ridiculous amount of human pressure imaginable. Wessel screams through the submission.
White and others are worried about Wessel’s elbow after seeing the horrible angle and figure it to be broken. However, Wessel leaves amazingly unscathed, though his heart isn’t as fortunate thinking of the loss and his wife back home.
Roy Nelson rubs me
the wrong way.
-- Dana White.
Team Rampage gets its first win with its last
soldier, but Evans is quick to remind Rampage that the final tally
is 7-1. Next, White corrals the two coaches together in order to
figure out the next set of matchups.
White also brings the fighters in to find out who they’d like to meet if given the chance. One by one they weigh in verbally and Matt Mitrione is named by just about everybody.
One fighter doesn’t sit well with White afterward.
“Roy Nelson rubs me the wrong way,” says White, thinking the fighter a bit too cocky during his conversation.
The choices are made and Nelson receives as tough a draw as any in Justin Wren. Jon Madsen will be meeting Brendan Schaub, while potential fireworks are in store with Matt Mitrione against James McSweeney. Bringing up the rear is Marcus Jones against Darrill Schoonover.
Evans is annoyed that Rampage got the matchup he wanted when he pit Jones against Schoonover. Big Baby is also now known as “The Darkness,” as Rampage wants him to do his bidding against the man he calls “Titties.”
We begin with Scott Junk’s teammates, who are still reeling over his loss to Matt Mitrione during last week’s episode. The “rat” nobody wanted just tight-roped his way past their pit bull.
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After Junk’s loss last week, Rampage had torn the gym’s door off its hinges and smashed it to bits while the fighters, coaches, the Nevada commission, its judges, the uniformed police, ring girls, EMT and UFC president Dana White all watched. They seem to be equal parts cautious and amused by the display.
“Listen, the last thing you want to be here on ‘The Ultimate
Fighter’ is a door,” chuckles White. “There’s no future as a door
here.”
Rampage doesn’t have time to pout over Junk with only one fight remaining between the two teams. Former NFLer Marcus Jones is the only hope Jackson has at getting a fighter into the finale.
“We banking on that boy,” says Rampage, calling Jones his last remaining soldier.
Rampage might need “Big Baby,” Jones’ affectionate nickname, but Big Baby needs Justin Wren. A bizarre-looking spider has Jones squealing in horror while Wren tends to its eradication. Jones describes the find as a “spider, scorpion leviathan.” It’s always amusing to see a 6-foot-6, 260-pound behemoth crippled in fear by an insect.
Unfortunately, Jones’ opponent is really dealing with true fear. Mike Wessel opens up about his wife at home and her battle with cancer. Wessel talks about having to sacrifice so much time for the TUF opportunity, but says he makes sure his wife gets a card every day to lift her spirits.
“This is the price you have to pay if you want to be great,” says Wessel.
Coach Rashad Evans and his assisting staff have a plan for Wessel to be great in his fight with Jones. They want him to throw bombs and close the distance on Big Baby. With Jones’ size, they’d rather him fight him in a phone booth than have the phone booth lying on top of their guy Wessel.
“I wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning just to watch old fights,” Jones says of his blooming love for MMA. During his NFL years, Jones says he was never a “student of the game,” but that’s changed now that he’s changed sports.
Back at the TUF training lodge, Rampage is back at it with Darrill Schoonover and his boy shelf.
“If I didn’t like ‘Titties’ (Schoonover), then I would have called him bitch tits,” reasons Jackson, making a weak attempt at a truce. After shaking hands, Rampage grabs a handful of the goods, setting Schoonover off. The pair go nose-to-nose once again.
Jeff
Sherwood/Sherdog.com
Jones’s massive fist rips through one pair of gloves while he’s getting prepped for battle. In the other locker room, Wessel receives advice for dealing with the beast just before entering the cage.
It urns out that it takes more than just advice to slay beasts. Jones doesn’t need to use any of his eight-inch reach advantage after all. Wessel comes straight forward swinging from the hip. After a wild exchange, Wessel tries to trip Jones, but ends up on bottom. Wessel quickly slips out and gets top position. But before he can mount any sort of offense, Jones snags Wessel’s arm and slaps on an armbar torqued by the most ridiculous amount of human pressure imaginable. Wessel screams through the submission.
White and others are worried about Wessel’s elbow after seeing the horrible angle and figure it to be broken. However, Wessel leaves amazingly unscathed, though his heart isn’t as fortunate thinking of the loss and his wife back home.
“
the wrong way.
”
White also brings the fighters in to find out who they’d like to meet if given the chance. One by one they weigh in verbally and Matt Mitrione is named by just about everybody.
One fighter doesn’t sit well with White afterward.
“Roy Nelson rubs me the wrong way,” says White, thinking the fighter a bit too cocky during his conversation.
The choices are made and Nelson receives as tough a draw as any in Justin Wren. Jon Madsen will be meeting Brendan Schaub, while potential fireworks are in store with Matt Mitrione against James McSweeney. Bringing up the rear is Marcus Jones against Darrill Schoonover.
Evans is annoyed that Rampage got the matchup he wanted when he pit Jones against Schoonover. Big Baby is also now known as “The Darkness,” as Rampage wants him to do his bidding against the man he calls “Titties.”
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